I am a journalist, but not particularly a fan of the electronic media (Radio and Television), but of the print, and recently, what is referred to as the digital or new media, mostly. Recently however, I stumbled on the programme known as ‘the Berekete Family’ on the Facebook in the Social Media. 

The ‘Berekete Family’ programme for the less informed like me, many of who may have only heard about, but never watched, it, is a very popular radio programme aired in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and financed by a Good Samaritan. It exposes the ill doings of those in positions of power or authority, but which the society is trying to hide, or has already hidden from the public.

When I first heard about the programme, I was sceptical, but the scepticism turned into a belief when the presenter was ‘arrested’ and put behind bars for something very inconsequential. He was detained for some days before he was released. His ‘sins’ being that he fought on the side of an aggrieved party, and those who have the right of ‘life and death’ in the land did not find it funny.

The Berekete Family has a setting like a court, with the ‘complainant’ sitting in the view of everyone, where the ordeal is narrated to the hearing of everybody in the room. The narrator could be the one directly involved in the ‘show of 

authority’ by those in position of authority, or someone reporting or complaining on behalf of the aggrieved, who in some cases may be late, ‘executed’ by the people whose job briefs do not include callous summary executions.

The first ‘drama’ I saw trending on the social media was where a young man was arrested, handcuffed and put behind bars on the orders of the Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu for the ‘crime’ of sharing the picture of the governor’s wife ‘spreading’ money at an occasion. The original video clip was shared by a close friend of the governor’s wife. Nothing was done to that close friend, but only the poor defenceless youth.

After that, I watched several other episodes where a simple case of ‘misunderstanding’ would lead to the death of the ‘weaker’ person in the argument. And the ‘perfetrator’ would go Scot free, but for the involvement of the unofficial ‘human rights’ campaigner called the Berekete Family programme.

It must be stated that the programme is helping a lot of poor folks get justice in a country where doers of many misdemeanours, who happened to be in position of authority, tend to get away with their deliberate bad actions.

Therefore, the ‘Berekete Family’ programme needs the support of the ordinary Nigerians because we live in a land where only the ‘haves’ have their way, and the rest of us find ourselves often left at the mercy of the society.

May the programme succeed beyond the liking and imagination of those who want its failure.

Malam Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.